The deaf and the classroom design: a contribution of the built environmental ergonomics for the accessibility

In any concept of school design, classroom occupies the central place. Dimensions, lighting, the equipment needed, ventilation are old questions already answered, even in form of laws and standards adopted. However, the best use of available materials and physical conditions of comfort is not sufficient for a classroom design guaranteed success. The classroom should provide deaf students elements to facilitate the learning process, eliminating as much as possible the obstacles created by lack of hearing and allowing them to have the same access to learning as a listener student. As users of a school building, teachers, students, parents and staff are the best evaluators of the physical environment of schools. The environmental comfort is a largest ally of pedagogy. The learning comes from the perception and the concentration of students in the classroom. The purpose of this study is to detect the role of direct perception (physical) and indirect (intangible) elements that informs and have symbolic value, and propose layouts for accessible classrooms to deaf students. The ergonomics of the built environment evaluation methods could use the participatory design method tools as basis to assessing how users perceive and use the school environment.